LEFT MENU

Writing For Children

Cover of When Things Go Wonky by Grace Jolliffe on page about writing for childrenWriting for children gives me great pleasure.

I write for both children and adults, but I must admit there’s something special about the way you can let your imagination fly when you are writing for children.

I have written a great many stories for children and they have been broadcast on RTE 1 here in Ireland, as well as published in various magazines.

I feel I can share some of what I have learned with you.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

When I first started writing I found myself writing serious pieces.

I say ‘found myself’ because I tended to sit down and write using the stream of consciousness method – which is literally writing whatever comes into your head and following your train of thought wherever it goes.

This is great at first and I would certainly urge you to do this in the beginning. Using the stream of consciousness is a great way to begin practising the craft of writing as well as establishing a writing routine.

Motivation is really important and before you begin I suggest you read this article about how to write for children and motivation.

HOW TO CHOOSE A THEME WHEN WRITING FOR CHILDREN

When I was using the stream of consciousness method I certainly didn’t give too much too much conscious thought to planning, making dramatic decisions, or choosing a theme.

These are important but at the beginning, it is best to just practice your writing and build a good writing routine. 

cartoon of a girl eating a cookie illustrating an article about writing for childrenWhen you are ready you can begin to focus on your themes. Themes can help readers of all ages connect to a story on a personal level.

Most themes are universal and both children and adults are drawn to specific themes at different times of their lives. You can read more about choosing a theme here.

In my early years of writing, I wrote a lot and I wrote regularly. I believe that writing regularly is an absolute must.

Years ago, I would fit in my writing between work and family commitments which meant starting at 11 pm and writing until 3 am, or until my head dropped on to the pillow.

FLOWING THOUGHTS

I had so little free time that I began to want to make better use of it. I realized that I was wasting a lot of my precious writing hours following random thoughts.

My thoughts often didn’t end up as a coherent story as I was too carried away following tangents.

PLAN YOUR STORY

So I began to think about planning my stories a bit more.

At first, I would still begin each new piece without a plan and then if I felt it was a story I could develop I would begin to make notes and decisions.

I learned that is just as important to plan your stories whether you are writing for adults or children.

If you feel you are ready to begin planning your stories you will find some easy ways to do it on this page here.

HOW TO FACE THE BLANK PAGE

beautiful sunset bay illustrating and article about writing for children

Sometimes it is hard to begin when faced with a blank page.

If you find it difficult to get started I highly recommend you to try some creative writing exercises.

I can promise if you do exercises regularly your page won’t be blank for very long.

You read a little more about my own experience of writing for children as well as see some of my own children’s stories here.

I wish you the very best of luck with your writing

Grace.

P.S. All the information on this site is provided free for you.  All I ask is that if this has helped you – leave a comment, share, or like this page. If you have any questions I will do my best to help.


PRACTICAL CREATIVE WRITING EXERCISES

You won’t be able to stop writing because these beautiful and inspiring exercises will banish your writing block right now.

book cover - Practical Creative Writing Exercises by Grace Jolliffe illustrating an article about illustrating a post for writers about writing for children

Never Be Stuck Again!

 Get eBook from Amazon.com 

 Get eBook from Amazon.co.uk

 Get paperback from Amazon.com

Get paperback from Amazon.co.uk

 

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )
Join over 3.000 visitors who are receiving our newsletter and get your free creative writing tracker.
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.
No comments yet.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.